Hello and welcome to Wednesday’s edition of A Slice Of Soap. As fans, we get used to characters coming and going. But in some cases, they come back again. The less said about Dirty Den’s Lazarus-type rise from the dead in EastEnders, the better.

But in Coronation Street, it appears that boring bookmakers Harry and Dan Mason (played by Jack Ellis and Matthew Crompton) are being axed to make way for the return of Ken Barlow’s bad boy bigamist son, Peter. He’s played by Chris Gascoyne.

I don’t know about you, but I loved seeing Terry Duckworth (played by Nigel Pivaro) return – even if it was for the sad occasion of Vera’s funeral. If only he’d make a more permanent return; it would give Jack Duckworth something to do. He really is half the character he was without Vera nagging at him. A shame (impossible to replace Vera). Can you imagine how good it would be to have the dynamic of Jack and Terry again?

Anyway, back to Peter Barlow and the actors who play the father and son bookies were apparently shocked when they were told they are being written out of the show after less than a year. Matthew Compton reportedly said: "It was horrible. It’s like splitting up with someone when you don’t want to. You feel sick – just like being dumped." It’s unfortunate for them that they’re bearing the brunt of the inadequacy of the Corrie writers – neither character really convinced and their chemistry with each other wasn’t the best either. Harry might’ve worked if he’d arrived alone to be the new factory boss – a kind of Mike Baldwin replacement (although Bradley Walsh as Mike’s son Danny was perfect).

Peter has caused dad Ken, played by William Roache, a lot of trouble over the years with his criminal activities. He married Rovers Return barmaid Shelley while already secretly married to florist Lucy, with whom he’d had a baby. Peter returned to the soap briefly last year for Tracy Barlow’s murder trial. He will be back on The Street in October. Well, if he’s stopping at No 1, it’s going to be pretty crowded in there…